HE IS the senior most practising criminal lawyer at Allahabad High Court. He is 86-year-old and still going strong.
Style of his arguments and his mannerism impress many judicial officers and lawyers alike. That is why when the golden jubilee of his legal career was celebrated at his Mumfordganj (Subhash Nagar) residence in 1995, the function was presided over by the Late Justice RN Gurtu and former Judge of the Supreme Court Justice RB Mishra, Justice Giridhar Malaviya, Justice Achal Behari Srivastava and senior advocates like SN Verma and Dr RS Dwivedi were among those who lauded his role in legal field and wished him a long and healthy life.
RK Shangloo is a social and sensitive person and he has written hundreds of articles on various subjects in several reputed newspapers. He is a votary of separate state for Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir and has raised his voice through his articles. Besides, in the capacity of president of the Kashmiri Samaj in Allahabad, he raised funds for rehabilitation of migrant Kashmiri Pandits. He was elected senior vice-president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association in 1977. Besides, he had formed Avadh Advocates' Association in early sixties. For the last six years he has been chairman of the Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru Memorial Trust.
Born in a reputed family of lawyers in Faizabad on November 28, 1920, Shangloo did MA in political science and Local Self Government Diploma from Allahabad University and LL B from Lucknow University. In 1945, he started legal practice in Faizabad where his father Late Pandit Ram Nath Shangloo was already a renowned and leading lawyer in criminal side. During his stay in Faizabad, he formed Faizabad Journalists' Association in 1946 and remained its secretary till 1950.
In 1951 Shangloo shifted to Allahabad and joined the prestigious chamber of SN Mulla, who commanded great respect as a lawyer. He remained closely associated with Mulla till 1961 and later started independent practice.
{{/usCountry}}In 1951 Shangloo shifted to Allahabad and joined the prestigious chamber of SN Mulla, who commanded great respect as a lawyer. He remained closely associated with Mulla till 1961 and later started independent practice.
{{/usCountry}}The excerpts from the interview:
It was February 1939 when I was BA-final student at AU and one fine evening I visited my relative Pt ML Zutshi, the then Deputy Director Education in New Katra. He told me he was going to visit Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and if I wished I should also accompany him. I readily agreed and went to attend Sir Tej's 'evening darbar'.
Some professors, doctors, politicians and lawyers were already sitting around Sir Tej and we also joined them.
Sir Tej was not only a legal luminary and commanded great respected but was also an erudite and very good person. He was a trusted mediator between the British, the Congress and the Muslim League. When C Rajgopalachari became Governor General of India after Independence, he wrote to Sir Tej in 1948 that actually he (Sir Tej) should have held this post but for ill health it could not be thought of. Besides, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi had great trust in Sir Tej.
While Sir Tej was discussing some issue with the people around him in his drawing room, Justice Tej Narain Mulla arrived there and he was duly welcomed by everyone. Sir Tej enquired with Justice Mulla whether he could attend the mushaira which was held two days back. Justice Mulla said that he attended the mushaira and it was very interesting. Sir Tej urged Mulla to recite some of the couplets of mushaira. I remember how sharp was Justice Mulla's memory that he recited many couplets of different poets for about half an hour and regaled the audience. Those sitting there continued with "wah.. wah... and 'muqarrar irshad'.
We need a better and more fitting memorial to be set up in memory of Sir Tej at Allahabad. I believe Sir Tej can never be replaced and he has no parallel till today.
In 1954-55 it was the bench of Senior Judge Justice Raghubar Dayal and Justice Basudev Mukherjee where SN Mulla and PC Chaturvedi, both leading lawyers, appeared to defend a murder accused. When the Bench enquired who would open the case both of them stood up. Then the Bench asked: "Who is senior?" Both pleaded their seniority. The Bench enquired with Chaturvedi about his enrolment as advocate, he said: "In 1942." Mulla had got enrolled as an advocate some time later. However, since he was Barrister, the Bench asked:
"When were you called to the Bar?" And Mulla said: "In 1941." Finally, the Bench was pleased to hold Mulla as senior to Chaturvedi and asked Mulla to open the case.
In 1977, Late Babu Jagdish Swarup and I led a High Court Bar Association delegation to Delhi to call on the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The delegation included VN Khare, who later became the Chief Justice of India. We told Indiraji that we were opposed to creation of High Court Bench at Meerut and she should not entertain any such demand.
In the meantime, one of the delegates suggested constitution of an inquiry commission in this connection. On this, she quipped: Don't depend on commission. It is not going to support you." Then I suggested that we only wanted that our HC should not be bifurcated and she said: "All right, you go."
And the matter was shelved.
I remember a number of interesting cases and encounters and would like to share them with the people.